


700.000 Stunts

by FossilizedCake



Category: Just Cause (Video Games)
Genre: Arena, Crack Treated Seriously, Cracky, Desert, Fluff, Gen, Just Cause logic, Just Cause physics, Rico is tired, Some Spanish, Some Swearing, give the old man a break lmao, minor injury, plenty of dialogue, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29830029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FossilizedCake/pseuds/FossilizedCake
Summary: Garland witnesses how resilient her new stuntman Rico is.
Relationships: Rico Rodriguez & Garland King
Comments: 6
Kudos: 1





	700.000 Stunts

**Author's Note:**

> Hello nobody!  
> Sadly this fandom is kind of not a fandom at all and nobody reads fics about it. But I love Garland and got very inspired. Which is why I've been working on 5 more oneshots since early January and they're all between 40% and 80% done (and very dialogue-heavy) lmao. The next one's gonna be the longest (>10k words), so it'll take me a while to finish it. But I'll try to upload all of them until the end of April. That's sort of my deadline rn. Garland is fun to write :) And I need these for my soul.

Too. Many. Stunts.

Sure, despite being rather hesitant in the beginning and practically getting forced into this whole movie star thing by Garland's _taking_ personality, Rico had started to enjoy himself. It was nice helping someone out who was so enthusiastic and passionate about something and he was certainly the last person to hide the fact that he had fun doing his job. That job being blowing things up, gliding through the air, steering fast vehicles and fighting all kinds of bad guys. These stunts and scenes were almost the same, minus the stakes. There were no lives on the line for a change. Which probably even made them a teensy-weensy little more fun because Rico could thoroughly enjoy them. The sheer amount of them though (was she shooting like five sequels at the same time?) made it difficult for him to determine when to stop. For her as well, it seemed.

Still in Arena, they had moved to a bridge somewhere between Gran Central and Mercadito. Garland parked her van on an adjacent cliff by the street where she had a good view at the next stunt area while Rico approached the chopper that was clearly intended for the stunt via parachute. There was another chopper hovering nearby but that was one of Garland’s, with her studio’s logo on it, equipped with cameras and there to film his stunts.

"That last one with the moped was not bad work," Garland's voice sounded over his comm. "Just the right balance between determination and confused fear on that chiseled visage to convince the audience that Vanessa's hitman isn't to be messed with. The explosion wasn't even in the script but it's a nice addition. Good improv on your end, honey. I think we’re gonna use that." She sighed. "Gotta admit though, seeing you wreck that baby stung a little - one of those was my first set of wheels. Yep. A mint Prisa Tía Moped. Even made it to the US. Sweet nostalgia. But c'est la vie." Rico thought that she sounded more indifferent than wistful.

He hadn't actually planned for the explosion either but he had gotten on the makeshift ramp in the wrong angle, so he had to jump off and the moped crashed against a rock and exploded. Sloppy. But truth be told, it hardly bothered him. He was on an adrenaline high and as close to giddy with excitement as he could be. But seeing as he was a disciplined emotional in the presence of a rather overbearing personality it didn't really show. 

"Just doing my job."

There was always this... hovering silence in the air for a moment when he replied to her because the words just flowed out of her like a waterfall but even if Rico wanted to keep up he had no idea how. He said what was necessary and frankly, for some reason he was always unsure about how to talk to her. He didn’t have that problem with anyone else.

"And you're doing it terrifically. Now, for the next shot I wanna see that same energy from you. I need you to maneuver that heli through under the bridge over there. You're trying to lose the jets that are hot on your heels, so fly as close to the top and pillars as possible and BOOM! Up in smoke they go right behind you."

"Garland, I don't think jets would-"

"D-duh! Baby, you do the stunts and I do the creative thinking. Trust me, Rico, this is what the people of Solís, what the _world_ wants to see."

He answered her with a grunt, grappled down next to the helicopter and climbed in, absently wondering if he was ever going to get used to all these nicknames she gave him. The fact that he hadn’t by now was strange since she made use of them so frequently and he was usually really great at adapting to new things quickly.

"Aaaand... action!" Garland said, not even asking if he was ready or not. Not that he expected her to.

Rico started the engine, turned on the radio and unintentionally switched to his comfort channel. The day had definitely been too long and maybe it wasn't conducive that the bridge in front of him kind of seemed to zoom back and forth with too much motion blur.

"I shouldn't have told you I have a free day."

"No, this is perfect! You're doing great, doll." 

"Maybe we should take a-" 

"Only fourteen more stunts and you're wrapped for the day. Come on, Rico, give the effects department something to work with!"

Rico sighed and set off. The sooner he got this over with the better. 

"Is that... Reflexiones I hear in the background? Feeling a bit nostalgic, are we?"

"If you need to know, it calms me down."

"Calms you down? Shouldn't you get pumped up with Furibundo or something? As usual?" 

"I need to concentrate." 

"Alright. You're the star, star. Reflexiones is cool. Good vibes. They talk about me sometimes."

The bridge grew in Rico’s field of view. Jets. Right. Imminent danger. Risky move… They could still fit under the bridge, though. He needed to move up, closer to the top-

He remembered too late that, right, this was just a stupid movie and there weren't actually jets behind him (although the scenario did feel kind of familiar) and oh, this move really _was_ risky and maybe he had misjudged the dimensions of his chopper in relation to the distance to the bridge… But it was too late to change his mind now. He might be a dictator removal specialist but perhaps he still needed breaks every once in a while, even if it was all just fun. That may have been what had clouded his perception. What time was it? How long had they been shooting? Why did Garland give him all those pet names? What the hell kind of name was ' _Garland_ ' anyway?

"Jesus, Rico, get out of there!" Garland's urging voice cut through his thoughts and drew his attention to the hectic beeping inside the helicopter. Frack. The blades must've gotten caught on the bridge, rotating the helicopter itself, and the crash had set the damn thing on fire. Inevitably.

Rico ripped open the door and jumped out. The helicopter exploded a second later right behind him and the blast sent him spinning through the air.

“Wah!” He launched his grapple, it stuck to the red cliff, he reeled in – and with an “oof” he bumped his head against one of the concrete pillars, did a couple uncontrolled sideways backflips, hit the cliffside rather ungracefully and could do nothing but roll down into the valley from then on.

"Hmph. Gah. Ungh. Mierda."

For a moment his surroundings became muffled and the pain blocked out all colors as he slowed to a halt. Granted, he’d been in far worse situations.

"Holy shit, Rico! Are you alright? Did you break anything? I'll call an ambulance!" he heard Garland's concerned voice over the comm. All he could think was 'thank god that pillar was blocking her view'. But she had probably heard his grunts. Or the thuds.

He sat up and put a hand on his forehead, unintentionally letting out another groan before reassuring her, "Estoy bien. Solo un momento. No necesito una ambulantia."

There was a second of silence on the other end of the line during which it appeared that it had gotten cut off or Garland was genuinely speechless for the first time since he'd met her. Wait, he _had_ said that in English, hadn't he?

"The cameras were rolling, Medici, you just fell off a fucking cliff. Those were like eighty feet! Actually, that looked pretty badass, I could use- but first I'll call an ambulance. Don't move, I'll be right there!"

Right, the cameras. He was still getting used to _that_. Anyway, damage check. Grappling hook looked okay. He tested the functions - all good. His weapons had some dents and scratches but nothing major. To be honest those had probably been there before. Wingsuit and parachute should be fine. No scorched smell.

Relieved to find his gear intact, he proceeded to phase 2. There was some blood on his forehead but the headache seemed moderate enough. Good. Probably another scar for his collection though. Everything else was a bit sore from the fall (especially his back due to the weapons) but nothing seemed to be broken.

Just as he was finished examining himself and declared that no, in fact he did _not_ need an ambulance, he saw Garland slide down the sandy cliff to his left in a hurry and slowly got up to greet her. She stretched out a hand as she sprinted towards him.

"I said don’t move! That was a nasty fall and you probably have some broken ribs or limbs or something."

"I'm fine." he repeated gruffly and proceeded to dust off his clothes when she approached him and scanned him with her eyes from head to toe.

"Okay, tell me, are you experiencing any stabbing or throbbing pain? Do you have trouble breathing? Is your vision blurry? On a scale of one to ten how strong is your headache?"

He genuinely thought about the last question. "Hm, a three? Three point five at most. And nothing's broken, I checked."

"But-" Garland reached up and put her hand on his jaw, tilting his head to get a better look at the laceration. "I _saw_ the fall - I have it on camera!"

"Ah, I've had worse." He shrugged while she kept staring at him, blinking rapidly in utter confusion.

"Rico Rodriguez, you amaze me. What are you, superhuman? And here I thought _Henry_ was invincible... Gee, now we need to rewrite the scripts."

"Don't worry about it, Garland. I simply have good genes."

She blinked at him twice more and then snorted in amusement. "Are you making jokes now?"

He hesitated and then said in an entirely deadpan tone of voice, "No... I have good genes."

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Well, now I know why _you_ are the one doing the field work. Think you can climb up the cliff too?”

Being a man of action far more than words he decided to just show her and started walking towards the cliff Garland’s van was parked on. She still seemed to think he needed her support to walk, judging by the fact that she slipped under his left arm and put her right one around his waist. That was fine by him. It was impossible to get an idea out of her head anyway. And if this idea was more about hugging him than providing assistance he wasn't going to mention it.

"So, Rico, I know you're not the most talkative individual but you should try to speak up more in the future." 

"But I tried to-" 

"That's not gonna cut it, sweetie. Stand your ground or you'll drown in the masses. That's a lesson I had to learn early." 

"I usually don't have a problem with that." 

"I know but, well, you don't need to treat me like the Black Hand but-" 

"That's not what I meant." They reached the cliff, she let go off him and started the ascent, Rico following suit.

Garland seemed to wait for further explanation but when he provided none she just sighed and said, "Alright then. Wanna hear another advice? Go to bed, honey, you look fucking exhausted. I would've wrapped up sooner but I really enjoy working with you and you seemed to have an endless supply of energy. Most importantly, it's a joy to watch you put your artistic gifts to use. Although I hope you know that I'd never send real jets to shoot at you. Not even as a directing technique to capture your genuine reaction."

“You had your crew report me to the Black Hand for a chase sequence without telling me.”

"Well, that's different. I know that you can handle _those_ goons, no problemo. And besides, you weren’t supposed to fight them, just drive a sports car really fast. I thought that was right up the alley of a former race car driver. Those are some _very_ fine Kerners."

“What about your stuntpeople? Asking me to wreck their cars on busy streets? Or demanding they drive into _tornadoes_? Or having them ask me to tether them to vehicles or hurl them through the air with my grappling hook? Or-“

Garland turned her upper body towards him slightly and held up one hand in a defensive gesture. “Alright, alright, I admit my methods are a little unconventional. But the results are outstanding! Have you ever even seen Space Station Zero or K4? Or Road Rage? You'd like that one, I'm bettin' on it, honey.”

“I haven’t had the time yet.”

“Watch party. My place. When this picture is done.”

“I-“

"Apropos tornadoes, you can't tell me you haven't driven your car into one for fun yet." 

Rico kept climbing in silence.

"Hah, I knew it! How about wingsuiting into one? I know _I'd_ do that."

"If you say so." Of course he’d done that too. More often than he could count. 

Garland scrambled up the top of the cliff on her knees, turned around and extended a hand.

"Rico… you do realize that you owe me a helicopter now," she said with a quirked eyebrow.

Rico hesitated for a moment before taking her hand. "I owe a lot of people a lot of vehicles..." He couldn't help the apologetic tone that laced his voice as Garland helped him up.

"Well... everything for the rebellion, I guess." She shrugged and brushed the dirt off of her pants while Rico stood up next to her. Then she shoved him playfully with her shoulder. "Ah, I’m just kidding though, all of my stuff's insured. Got a big budget. Especially since I'm now saving a bundle on stunts and special effects, thanks to you, firestarter."

"Hrmh... So... is _this_ going to be in your movie?" He gestured casually at the bridge behind them. 

Garland chuckled and patted his upper arm. "Nah, that's going in my private collection. I might add a laughing track though. To dissolve the tension, you know?" She punched his arm lightly and grinned at him before heading for her van. Rico slumped a little and rolled his eyes before following her.

"Euch. Don't you dare."

Fin

**Author's Note:**

> For the record, I did every single one of her 436 stunts (and more) for fun. And to hear her voice. That doesn't mean I didn't go a little crazy though.


End file.
